


The Magical Healing Properties of Blueberries

by buffyaddict13



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Science Bros
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-23
Updated: 2012-05-23
Packaged: 2017-11-05 21:26:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/411183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buffyaddict13/pseuds/buffyaddict13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony and Bruce take turns saying thank you. To each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Magical Healing Properties of Blueberries

**Author's Note:**

> This fills in a few scenes at the very end of the movie. I've written fic for various fandoms on LiveJournal and ff.net in the past, but this is my first time here. I blame Tony Stark. If you hate this, you can blame me.

He stays on his feet while they take a sullen, defeated Loki back to the hellicarrier. He remains upright through a mostly silent meal of shawarma. The food is good (not great, but the kitchen is half destroyed so the cook gets a pass), but he's too tired to say so. It takes all of his flagging energy to stay in his seat, to chew, to swallow. When Cap falls asleep, no one says anything. His eyes stray to Bruce throughout the meal, but Banner doesn't meet his gaze. He wonders if Bruce even knows he saved Tony's life.

Tony tries not to think about the fact a giant green rage beast who's known him for about two seconds is more invested in Tony's welfare than Obadiah Stane ever was. Tony shoves the thought down with the rest of his pain and reaches for his wallet. His hand moves out of habit and he leaves a stack of bills nearly thick enough to repair not just the restaurant, but the whole goddamned block.

* * *

He is silent when Pepper wraps her arms around him, one hand against his back, the other threading through his dirty hair. He closes his eyes and loses himself in the blessed familiarity of her voice. His muscles scream, his chest burns, but Tony is quiet.

She pulls away from him, searches his face. She doesn't like what she sees and her hands grip his shoulders tightly. He can feel her fear through his torn t-shirt.

"Tony? Are you okay?"

He nods, because he's too tired to make Pep feel better right now. He's too tired to crack jokes. He's too tired to lie. And Pepper deserves better than lies ( _better than him_ ) anyway.

He takes an hour long shower, lets the endless hot water wash over him until his wrinkles have wrinkles. He stands, hands splayed against cool tile, head bowed, until Jarvis gently points out "it isn't possible to wash off your top layer of epidermis, sir" no matter how long he stands there. So Tony scrubs his face with the towel, lets Pepper wrap his ribs, and falls into bed.

He dreams of stars and space and falling. He dreams of drowning in endless black. He dreams of dying to the sound of Pepper's screams

* * *.

The next morning, Pep reaches for his hand in the middle of his tirade over Fury's duplicitous one-eyed douchebaggery. He didn't even bother to send Tony a "thank you for risking your life by throwing a nuke through that portal thing, thereby saving the entire planet, and showing me, nay, the world, you are braver, better, and far more handsome than Captain America in every way" text.

Tony stops mid-rant, and blinks at Pepper.

She smiles at him, rubs his bruised knuckles with a gentle thumb. 

"I'm glad you're here."

He's got a flippant/witty reply balanced on the end of his tongue. It's poised to go. But he slams on his mental brakes before managing to piss Pepper off and/or make himself look like ( _more of_ ) an ass. She's not kidding around.

He very nearly _wasn't_ here. 

So he clears his throat, sniffs, and turns his hand over so he can squeeze Pepper's delicate fingers. His mouth says, "Me too," but the squeeze says "Your face was the last thing I saw when I ran out of air, and I was okay with that. I wasn't thinking about saving the world, I was thinking about saving you." And maybe the other Avengers. But he's not communicating that part with the squeeze.

He's not sure if Pepper gets all his messages, she doesn't even know he sort of, kind of, died. But she must get enough of what he's trying to say because she leans across the table and kisses his cheek.

She wrinkles her nose. And looks adorable. "Bleah. Stubble."

He leers. "Stubble is sexy, Ms. Potts."

She gives him an appraising look, tilts her head, considering. "It's 12% sexy. If you're lucky."

So much for _that._

* * *

That afternoon the Avengers (re)Assemble at a SHIELD-approved location so all the Nordic gods of the group can Tesseract themselves back to Asgard or the North Pole or Narnia or wherever the hell they come from. Tony leans against an ornate fence that encloses this section of the SHIELD-approved park. Apparently Fury feels the Tesseract should be used out in the open and not inside actual SHIELD buildings. Join the club.

Tony's got his arms crossed over his (sore) chest and he's sending "I'm leaning cuz I'm too cool stand up straight" vibes out like a human wi-fi, but he's really leaning because he feels about as dented as the remnants of his poor Mark VII. Shh, don't tell.

Rogers is looking all blond and Captain-y, as usual. But when he spots Tony he gives a little half wave, half salute thing, which: weird. Tony nods back, because cool leans and dorky waves do _not_ go together. Bruce doesn't get the memo though, because he comes up waving like Miss America. If Miss America were a gigantic middle-aged nerd dressed like a college professor.

Natasha and Clint are on the other side of the godly duo. They're talking in some secret spy code that seems to be made up entirely of shoulder shrugs and extremely subtle eyebrow lifts. For fun, Natasha throws an occasional death glare toward a muzzled Loki. Tony won't bet on it, but he's pretty sure Natasha's glare could toast marshmallows, burn ants, and/or start a forest fire, depending on her anger level. He's glad he didn't know her as a child. Then again, he's not all that thrilled he knows her now.

Bruce waves his way over to Tony. He puts his hands in his pockets, then takes them out. He looks down at them, like they've betrayed him on some level, sighs, then jams him back in his pockets. He nods toward Tony, squints against the glare coming off his Ray-Bans.

"Still sore, huh?"

Tony rolls his eyes and jerks his sunglasses up into mussed hair. "Come on Banner, I'm leaning because Iron Man is _cool_."

"Huh," Bruce says, expression bland, "somebody better tell Iron Man he's not as cool as he thinks."

Tony pokes Bruce's chest slightly harder than necessary. "You, sir, speak blasphemy."

Banner bats Tony's finger away and smirks. He pulls a trial-sized bottle of Aleve out of his pocket and shakes it at Tony. "What were you saying?"

"Pfft," Tony snorts, waiving dismissively toward Loki and Thor. "Gods, shmods. All the cool kids know you're the _real_ god around here."

Bruce chuckles, pops the cap, drops two blue tablets into Tony's palm. "That's funny, I don't see any cool kids around here, just an old guy trying to act young." He makes a big production of looking around for children. Or his sanity.

Tony pushes himself upright and holds up one finger. "First of all, you wound me, Doctor." He taps the metal circle in his chest. "If I didn't have this baby, my heart would be broken right now. _Shattered_ , even."

Bruce nods solemnly. "That, uh, wouldn't be hyperbole by any chance, would it?"

Tony shakes his head. "Nope. Not a syllable. And two," He lifts a second finger and points both toward the general dishevelment of Bruce's hair. "You have way more salt in your pepper than I do." Tony frowns. "You know, that sounds like a dirty joke about my girlfriend, but strangely, it's not."

"Yeah, yeah," Bruce huffs, "I'm old. I get it. We're both old, Tony. Unlike those two." He nods toward the SHIELD agents.

Tony glowers. "The unmitigated gall."

"I know, right? I'm dreading the day the Other Guy needs knee replacement surgery." But Bruce is smiling and this is the first time Tony's heard Banner joke about the Other Guy and not look like he wants to stab himself or others.

Tony lets his smile fall. He stares at Bruce. The man looks tired, but his eyes are bright. His shoulders are straight. He looks...lighter than he looked on the hellicarrier somehow. Must be  
all the blueberries Tony gave him, they've got shitloads of vitamins and whatnot.

"Hey. I'm gonna be honest for a second. Brace yourself."

Bruce nods, inhales, exhales. "Okay. I'm ready."

"I don't know if you know this or not, but...you saved my life. So thank you for that. Captain Tightpants told me what you did."

Bruce grins. "Tightpants are better than no pants at all, believe me."

Tony blinks. "Be that as it may, thanks." He scratches his head. "I appreciate the save."

"Don't thank me," Bruce says, "that was the Other Guy." He holds up his hands, all innocence. "I had nothing to do with it. I mean if it had been me? I'd have totally let you fall to your doom."

"Wow, good thing you weren't there, then. You'd probably have had to stand in a disgustingly long line to watch me splat into the Iron Pancake." Tony dry swallows the pain relievers and frowns, strokes his goatee. "Riddle me this, then: Mr. Green's never seen me before. Why would he save me?"

Banner shrugs. "Maybe he knows you..." he hesitates, uncomfortable with the words, but pushes them out regardless, "respect him. Not that he deserves respect exactly."

"Everyone deserves respect," Tony says sharply. "The Other Guy. And you. Especially you."

Bruce looks a little stunned, then smiles, the wattage much higher than his earlier attempts. "Then I'll accept your thanks if you accept mine." Bruce holds out his hand.

Tony doesn't hesitate. "Deal."

They shake.

* * *

Fury shows up and they say heartfelt goodbyes to Thor. There are a great deal more heartfelt good riddances aimed at Loki, including Clint's quiet but entirely audible "fuck off and die."

When the Wonder Twins are gone, everyone drifts toward their respective vehicles.

Bruce wanders back toward the dilapidated moped he's been tooling around on, but Tony stops him. He's as surprised at the words coming out of his mouth as Bruce is. Maybe more so. 

"Hey, wanna come over and blow stuff up?" Tony asks.

Bruce grimaces. "Umm..."

Tony rolls his eyes. "We'll build the stuff first, _then_ blow it up."

Bruce rubs the back of his neck. His eyes are clearly saying "hells to the yes" but good manners or social etiquette, or something equally nonsensical is making him hesitate.

Tony lowers his voice. "I have the entire series of Mystery Science Theater 3000 on Blu Ray."

Banner's eyes literally bug out of his head and he's _dragging_ Tony toward the street.

Tony is still laughing when he unlocks the car.


End file.
